The first weekend of March brought us up north, more precisely to Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia. The first obstacle was surviving a ten hour car ride in two nine-seat buses and arriving in Münster late at night.
Of course, we had the honor of playing in the opening game, which worked out – even if we had minor troubles at the beginning – ending in a 6-2 victory over the federal Wilden from Wettingen (Switzerland). Compact defense and creative offense with a range of different scorers led us to the victory and were the first results of good preparation during winter. Success leads you wanting more, so we were already anxious to play the host, the Münster Mohawks. Especially our offense played well with eight, often well played-out, goals. As in the first game, we received two goals, but were able to finish the second half without any goal shot against us. Also noteworthy during this game, was the competition between the brothers Tom and Olli Streding, in which our Olli dominated and didn’t leave his brother any chance. After two games the day wasn’t over yet.
Furthermore mentionable, was the creativity of our team between the games,especially by our hobby-17-year old Gerhard, who discovered that one can catch a ball with the stick but without hands, by wedging the stick between chin and shoulder.
Late at night, the the last game against the Polish team CEBULAX took place. This duell was not without worries, as we received more than two goals for the first time, which was probably also caused by the bad visibility and the previous efforts. Due to our extraordinary team spirit combined with our fitness we were able to win this game after all with 7:4 and so ended the first day undefeated.
Under the tired eyes of some extensive party people, we once again had the honor of playing the first game oft he day. After a strenuous fight, we were able to win this game against our rivals from Graz as well with 8-4. With this victory, we finished first place in our group or, as the Italians would say, piazza uno.
It is not an exaggeration to call the final a very strong game. We played the against CEBULAX offensively strong and defensively great and were able to win this as well with an 8:3. From my part, I am proud of our accomplishment and you (yes, you, Monarch) can be proud of yourselves.
In addition, it shall be noted that the Vienna Monarchs not only took the first place with them on the nine hour drive, but also our own Cedric Gfrerer took the trophy for best goaly back home. Great weekend and great tournament! To round this up, I shall end my text with the words of Mark Ruffalo: „I want to do a western. Nobody does westerns anymore.“
(by Gerhard Probst)
